Shadowmarch: Shadowmarch: Volume I: 1 (Daw Book Collectors) [Hardcover]

Having read everything by Tad Williams to date, I have come to the conclusion that he does best with epics, be they fantasy or sci-fi. 2003's _War of the Flowers_ left me a little cold, as did his breakout debut, _Tailchaser_. His Otherland and Memory, Sorrow & Thorn sagas, however, are some of the most satisfying reads you will ever avail yourself of.

I won't rehash the plot; that's been done plenty elsewhere. What I will say is that Williams take familiar elements and does wonders with them. His plotting and pacing are relentless, compelling you to read more in one sitting than is good for you.

The only thing I could have done without was one character's time underground, which reminded me a bit too much of Simon's escape in _The Dragonbone Chair_. But that comes late in the book, and by then you'll be hooked.

If you're looking for some excellent fantasy while waiting for George R.R. Martin's _A Feast for Crows_, this is just the thing.

Shadowmarch, the second fantasy novel that Tad Williams has written since completing the SciFi "Otherland" series, is the first such entry in an entirely new series. I believe the major, non-spoiler plot points are either addressed in the publisher's description or through other reviews. With that in mind, I'll focus on this book when compared to the rest of his works.

In contrast to his pedigree (see the first two hundred pages of "The Dragonbone Chair" or the entire book that was "City of Golden Shadow"), the book is long on plot and short on in-depth character development.

Let me explain.

As a reader, and fan, of Tad Williams' works, the opposite tends to be true. He focuses, primarily, on a few highly borne out characters (Orlando, Renie, Simon, Miramele). This can lead to sequences that, to the impatient reader, paint a very detailed caricature while moving the/a-semblance-of-a plot forward minimally. Of course, as evidenced in "The Dragonbone Chair", even during those long initialization sequences, very pertinent information is divulged (eg the statues as visited by a young Simon).

In "Shadowmarch", the opposite track seems to have been taken. Swarms of characters dart in and out (Briony, Barrick, Qinnitan, Chert, Chaven, Yassaminez, Flint, Vansen) in very short sequences-- most such 3rd person limited perspectives are 1-2 pages; the exception being Qinnitan whose 'perspectives' take an entire chapter (although even her average chapter length is only 7 pages). This serves, in a contrarian form to his early works, to progress the well-thought out and multi-faceted plot forward at a swift clip (especially for Tad Williams). However, and most disappointedly as I see it, only Briony and Chert are painted at more than 'sketch-level.' Given that I was most compelled by (and disappointed by his "absence" for long stretches) Barrick, I hope this changes later in the series.

In short, to advance plot more expediciously, Tad Williams has replaced depth of character with breadth of characters.

As a Tad Williams fan, I don't know that I like the trade-off. However, when compared to the vast quantity of fantasy rubbish flying of bookshelves (some of which I've had the misfortune to read), this book as a whole stands up well.

Most importantly, I eagerly await the second volume.

I just finished Shadowmarch. To be honest, I wasn't very impressed. Not that it was a bad book, but it wasn't up to par with Williams' usual quality of writing.

The Good Points:
-The prologue was excellent, mysterious and gripping, and really drew me into the book. The blind king and motionless queen were very intriguing.
-Williams did a good job of creating many more questions than answers in this book so you want to keep reading to solve the mysteries. Especially at the end of the book, the world is in upheaval, all the characters are embarking on journeys, and I would like to see what happens to everybody in the next book.
-The scenes describing the Qar were interesting and well written. I especially liked the descriptions of their main stronghold, where Williams really shows off his imagination and powers of description.

The Not So Good Points:
-VERY few of the human characters were exceptional or even interesting in any way. I didn't care about these characters nearly as much as I did about those from Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and Otherland. Indeed, a good half dozen of the characters seem like boring remakes of characters from MS&T. Barrick and Briony seemed to me like annoying versions of Simon & Miriamele, right down to the colour of their hair! I won't bother to mention all the others...The only human I really liked was Ferras Vansen--he's such a darn nice guy. Also, Chert and Opal Quartz were pretty endearing.
-I felt that there were a couple too many POVs. It diluted the story. Especially Quinnitan's story--if Williams was going to include her, shouldn't he at least have hinted by the end of the book what on earth she has to do with anything?
-The setting of Southmarch didn't seem very interesting to me. Maybe it's because there were too many places and people named--after a while I just found it confusing. And the maps in the front of the book are hard to read. Osten Ard from MS&T was a much more appealing setting for an epic fantasy.
-Lastly, I was surprised to see that the quality of writing was inconsistent throughout the book. Usually Williams' writing sparkles--for me, anyway--but in this book, while some parts definitely kept me on the edge of my seat (for example the scene where Vansen meets the Qar woman in the forest) some parts, indeed many, were simply dull. At times when I was reading I was thinking, "hey, this is pretty good!" and sometimes I was thinking "this is boring..." there was little consistency.

In all the first volume of Shadowmarch was okay. I'll pick up the next installment when it comes out. But still, I was very disappointed in it for a book of Tad Williams, whose stuff I normally love.

If you've never read anything by Williams before I would strongly suggest picking up Memory, Sorrow and Thorn instead, starting with The Dragonbone Chair, because it's SO much better.